View Full Version : [EN] Already seeing results of SPAM returning to the regular Game Forums!
Someone predicted that with post counters turned off in the off-topic sections that SPAM would return to the other Forums! Here is an example!
This one is in the 1602 Forum! And strarted by a Moderator no less!
Happy Birthday, LegolasD! (http://forum.sunflowers.de/showthread.php?t=4009)
Webmaster
11-03-2005, 10:10
easy easy easy ... we can move such threads if wished
Webmaster
11-03-2005, 10:16
maybe we create a birthday subboard as for the games
How is that spam? :wink:
It's just an old thing we used to do on the old board - it's hard to take away the "habits" :wink: :smile:
Webmaster
11-03-2005, 10:40
sometimes it isn't easy to differ topic postings <> community postings <> offtopic
where lies the level of difference of a posting to be considered as spam?
How is that spam? :wink:
It's just an old thing we used to do on the old board - it's hard to take away the "habits" :wink: :smile:
Anything off-topic has been determined "SPAM". Turning off the post counters in the off-topic section in essence has declared that off-topic posts are "SPAM". Birthday wishes are certainly not "Game topic".
It was an old thing we used to do at this board also, then they moved all off-topics into this one section, threw the English off-topic board into combination with the Deutsch off-topic board making it more difficult to keep track of threads you were following, also having to sort through a list of threads to find new ones started in your language. We have had to break old habits, other people need to do the same(especially Moderators-If they are to moderate the boards and keep us following the rules of the board, they need to set the example and follow the rules themselves!)
sometimes it isn't easy to differ topic postings <> community postings <> offtopic
where lies the level of difference of a posting to be considered as spam?
Birthday wishes listed in the 1602 forum are definitely not on-topic for that forum, and most definitely dilute the significance of post counts as we are now trying to put a significance on the value of advice of a poster by the number of posts one has.
And where does the level of difference of a posting lie to be considered as spam? I think you answered that when post counts were turned off in the off-topic section. And being at least one Birthday thread was moved to the off-topic section, I would say that all Birthday threads would be considered off-topic and thus are "SPAM"!
Funny.. I determine "spam" as ongoing creating Off Topics, which do not stop. IE birthday wishes for me are not spam, it's one single thread, created to congratulate the person on another year.
I even looked up a definition:
"Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it."
[http://spam.abuse.net/overview/whatisspam.shtml]
mamayourpeoplearehungry
11-03-2005, 12:05
Our Birthday threads were the only off-topic thread that was allowed on our old board after we lost our off topic areas. We argued it at that time with Sunflowers and were able to keep it in the game area. If we could search our old forum we could find those posts.
This a part of our 1602 community and it should be kept in our board.
@Dobber - I don't think you need to worry about my post count passing you by with birthday threads.
So ... in the future, the monthly stats has to be posted here also? because it is "spam"?
mamayourpeoplearehungry
11-03-2005, 12:26
The discusions about the Pope and the trashing of the US is why I seldom visit the Webmasters Inn anymore. That is a solution for me. If you don't like the birthday threads in the 1602 board then don't visit the 1602 board.
Our board has 2,200+ posts total. Dobber has 1986. I think our board would have no problem with a few Birthday threads. It is a part of our community.
@Helen - no don't move the stats. Both of these items we argued for before and were allowed to continue. Don't let people with a different agenda use our community to fight their battles.
Webmaster
11-03-2005, 12:29
maybe the moving of one's birthday thread was wrong ... ;(
i don't think birthday threads are spam ... they are part of a community.
so i suggest to establish here in the offtopics a birthday section.
FrankishKnight
11-03-2005, 12:49
I suggest everyone who uses the word "soccer" in a post (after this one) should be banned for a week.
Funny.. I determine "spam" as ongoing creating Off Topics, which do not stop. IE birthday wishes for me are not spam, it's one single thread, created to congratulate the person on another year.
I even looked up a definition:
"Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it."
[http://spam.abuse.net/overview/whatisspam.shtml]
So by that definition the playing of our games is not spam either as so many have tried to suggest! HappyAdolf you are not a spammer afterall!
Moryarity
11-03-2005, 13:03
As Webbi said above, it may have been wrong to move the birthday thread....
But I am against opening a Birthday thread..it is something that concernes only a special community, so it should stay "intern"....
Just copying the names from today's birthday list is not exaclty what I'd call personal congratulations...
no, the games are not "spam" since it is in the game section, where you're supposed to play games.
Although, many sees this as an oppertunity to spam and create many threads just to raise their post count.
and no, I'm not moving the stats-thread. Just interested to hear what their definition is it by it.
Webmaster
11-03-2005, 14:03
so, what will we deciced?
leave every birthday thread in der proper place? seems to be the common opinion.
and i move the one bday thread back?
RoadRunner
11-03-2005, 14:11
I never expected such an emotional debate about birthday wishes... :silly: And I fear that I will never be able to understand the role that plays the postcounter for you. I used to post if I had something to say, and not to get more posts. There are threads where I have the impression that they are only made to get more posts (and for me - but that is my personal view - they are mainly in the game section), but you will hardly find anything from me there.
Up to now, I considered birthday threads as a normal part of the game sections, irrespective if those postings are counted or not. And I would be glad if that could stay so - as the other Anno and TechnoMage board members already stated, this has always been a nice tradition in our (old) board.
What are we speaking about? - From November 2004 up to now, there were 5 birthday threads with total 59 posts in the Anno section. Eight of them were posted after the offtopic post counter was disabled. I had a total of 6 posts in them - one was a reply to Dobber.
@Dobber: I am very sorry, but I saw this thread only after I read your remarks in the thread you mentioned. That's why I pushed my post counter even higher by replying there and not only here... But honestly speaking, I was a bit confused that you posted in a birthday thread without congratulating. :wink:
The discusions about the Pope and the trashing of the US is why I seldom visit the Webmasters Inn anymore. That is a solution for me. If you don't like the birthday threads in the 1602 board then don't visit the 1602 board.
Our board has 2,200+ posts total. Dobber has 1986. I think our board would have no problem with a few Birthday threads. It is a part of our community.
@Helen - no don't move the stats. Both of these items we argued for before and were allowed to continue. Don't let people with a different agenda use our community to fight their battles.
And now you are saying that I should not visit the 1602 board, I play 1602 and have participated in the topics there. I have no problem with the Birthday threads you post there, that is not the issue. I am fighting against a double standard that has been created. My problem is with a Moderator for that forum that seems to think that those posts are of more value than the posts in the off-topic section. He has expressed that posts in the off-topic section should not be counted because they would dilute the value of post counts for those seeking help in the forums. Why should the Birthday thread in Webmaster's Inn be of less value than one here? It shouldn't!
The stats thread has to do specifically with that section of the forum, Helen lists the stats of only the members participating in that forum. People in Webmaster's Inn would not be interested in them anyway.
And yes I have 1986 posts, would have @400 more had I not deleted a bunch to decrease my post count total at one time because of my concern of having such a high count. I have also been around since October of 2003(the month the forum was created). An active poster tends to accumulate a lot of posts in 18 months. If I were concerned with someone passing me with post count, I would have 4000 posts and be at the top of the list where HappyAdolf is at this time. The post count does not concern me, I just enjoy the word game section along with friends I have made here.
Our Birthday threads were the only off-topic thread that was allowed on our old board after we lost our off topic areas. We argued it at that time with Sunflowers and were able to keep it in the game area. If we could search our old forum we could find those posts.
This a part of our 1602 community and it should be kept in our board.
You state here that your birthday threads were the only off-topic thread that was allowed on your old board after you lost your off-topic areas. Here you/we have not lost your/our off-topic areas, Webmaster's Inn was/is a part of your/our 1602 community, what is the problem with posting your birthday wishes in it like everybody else on the boards has to do? See the double standard that has been created.
When the 1602 and Technomage forums were intigrated here, we had The Royal Inn in the KoH English section, The Deutsch equivalent for the Deutsch KoH section and Webmaster's Inn for the 1602 and Technomage section. Now we all share an off-topic section, so what is the problem with having all the birthday threads being posted there? The only other solution I see is to allow the KoH forum members to start posting their birthday wishes back at the KoH board.
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